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February 1, 2010

I'm back....sort of!

My bronchitis is definitely on the upswing...woohoo! After 2 weeks I'd say it's about time!!

I decided to go to the gym this morning for an early (4:30AM) pool workout followed by some strength training. I have to admit that when the alarm went off I laid in bed a little too long and almost fell back to sleep! I know myself well enough that if I don't get out of bed within a couple of minutes of my alarm going off then I will inevitable fall back to sleep and I always wake up disappointed in myself. But this time I fought the urge to sleep! I dragged myself into the other room to get dressed, forced down a granola bar (I usually have a banana before my swim workouts but we were all out), and drove to the gym. To my surprise it was actually pretty busy...busier then I have ever seen it at 4:45 in the morning!

I got to the pool and was pleased to see that 2 of the 3 lanes were open..yeah! I quickly got in the pool and started swimming. It felt so great to be back in the water. I've been working on my stroke and I think it's coming along because I just feel smoother in the water - ya know what I mean? Before I was even done with my first 100, a guy got in the last open lane and an older woman came over and asked if she could share the lane with me. Now, I don't know if other women share these thoughts, but as a women I find it really hard to share a lane with a guy...especially a bigger, muscular guy. Maybe it's just my gym and the pool lanes are super narrow but whenever I share a lane with a guy I always feel like he's going to plow into me head on. It really messes with my concentration and I end up screwing up my stroke and swimming like an idiot! Do any of the other women out there ever feel that way or is it just me? And, if you had a choice between sharing with a women and sharing with a guy, who would you choose? Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against swimming with men, it just freaks me out a little bit! It's definitely something I need to get over.

Anyways, when I looked up to say yes to the women I noticed who it was. It was this lady that must be in her late 80's that is there almost every day of the week swimming. She is seriously a swimming rock star! She doesn't swim very fast and has this really wide stroke, but she swims nonstop for forever! I have been there several times for almost an hour and she just keeps swimming. She is just a total inspiration! I really hope that when I am her age I am still active like her! I've always wanted to talk to her about it and tell her how inspirational she is, but she is all business once she enters the water. I'm thinking she may have swam professionally when she was younger...maybe someday I'll find out!

All in all I had a great swim! I didn't want to push myself knowing that I still have lung/coughing issues, so I ended up doing 12 x 100 repeats at a nice steady pace. If I feel better this week I'm going to start doing actual workouts with drills and sets, but until then I just want to get in the water and swim! Once my actual 70.3 training starts I know my days of "just swimming" will be few and far between!

What I think it is that most men in the pool really dont know the rules of the pool. I kringe when I have to share a lane with someone, do they know pool ettitique? Do they know how to properly swim in circles, if they stop and rest, do they now to get out of the way? Are they the typical weekend warrior and just like to sprint 25 meters? Ugh, so many things to think about, causes you to have to worry about the other person then concentrate on your own workout. I dont mind sharing, I just sorta pray they know what they are doing.

I feel the same as BDD - especially when i DO understand pool etiquette. I find myself always checking ahead to see where the person is and making sure I can swim defensively enough to protect myself from them!